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Ready for metamorphosis These are the tadpoles of the Himalayan Toad I posted earlier. These tadpoles after a month or two will start metamorphosis to become an adult toad. Considering the timeline of the events, this is my first sighting of this species which happened in April 2019 and then this year in the first week of March I saw a mating pair and their egg sacs. In the puddles around the streams I saw these tadpoles in thousands and am not exaggerating!!! No one knows about how many of these thousands of tadpoles would reach adulthood to survive snowfall and then reproduce again...<br /> 1. Adult Toads: <figure class="photo"><a href="https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94026/mating_is_the_first_activity_after_winter_sleep.html" title="Mating is the first activity after winter sleep"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.jungledragon.com/images/1843/94026_thumb.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=05GMT0V3GWVNE7GGM1R2&Expires=1759968010&Signature=cAmpzoV2BQfhA8KmOSKLjbQUsPo%3D" width="200" height="134" alt="Mating is the first activity after winter sleep In the month of April 2019 when I saw the tadpole I got to know from the experts that they were tadpoles of Himalayan Toad and fortunately I got the opportunity to visit the same place in the month of March 2020 (first week) where I saw this beautiful pair in its mating position and already laying-off eggs in tube-like structure (I will make another post showing that structure). What I was wondering then was this species is another wonder as melting of snow and ice was a very recent phenomenon on this study site and they immediately after coming out of their hibernation start mating as soon as possible so that there can be new generations doing the same next year and year next to that. It would be so interesting if I could document their winter sleep.<br /> <br /> Image of their eggs in tubes : https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94116/egg_sac_of_endemic_himalayan_toad.html<br /> <br /> Tadpoles : https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94286/ready_for_metamorphosis.html Duttaphrynus,Duttaphrynus himalayanus,Frogs of India,Geotagged,Himalayan,Himalayan toad,Incredible India,IncredibleIndia,India,Indian Frogs,Nikon,Nikon D5600,Tamron,Tamron AF 70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD MACRO 1:2,Toad,Winter" /></a></figure><br /> 2. Egg sac: <figure class="photo"><a href="https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94116/egg_sac_of_endemic_himalayan_toad.html" title="egg sac of endemic Himalayan Toad"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.jungledragon.com/images/1843/94116_thumb.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=05GMT0V3GWVNE7GGM1R2&Expires=1759968010&Signature=CuwnNKo2Q4eisKQOpOJURPFNd3g%3D" width="200" height="126" alt="egg sac of endemic Himalayan Toad As I said in my Himalayan Toad species intro post, that I will be posting egg and then tadpole image, here am adding egg stage today. So I made a collage showing freshly laid eggs in tubes on a bed of algae and besides that image there is an another image showing older tube carrying eggs. As it gets old the transparency of the tube is affected by many environmental factors and in a way such covering in dust and turbidity provides them safety against the predators is what I assumed as the eggs are less visible in this form. Also yes, one last comment on it is these tubes were not very small to ignore and longest I saw was almost 2 meters long!!! So this was from my visit in the month of March 2020 (first week to be very specific)<br /> Image of adult mating : https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94026/mating_is_the_first_activity_after_winter_sleep.html<br /> Tadpoles: https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94286/ready_for_metamorphosis.html Abhijeet Jagtap,Abhijeet Ramesh Jagtap,AmphibiansOfIndia,Chamba,Duttaphrynus himalayanus,Geotagged,Himachal Pradesh,HimachalPradesh,Himalayan,Himalayan toad,Incredible India,IncredibleIndia,India,IndianAmphibians,Toad,abhitap,abhitap1991" /></a></figure> Abhijeet Jagtap,Abhijeet Ramesh Jagtap,Chamba,Duttaphrynus himalayanus,FrogsOfIndia,Geotagged,Himachal,Himachal Pradesh,Himalayan,Himalayan toad,Incredible India,IncredibleIndia,India,IndianFrogs,IndianToads,Ravi River,Spring,ToadsOfIndia,abhitap,abhitap1991 Click/tap to enlarge Promoted

Ready for metamorphosis

These are the tadpoles of the Himalayan Toad I posted earlier. These tadpoles after a month or two will start metamorphosis to become an adult toad. Considering the timeline of the events, this is my first sighting of this species which happened in April 2019 and then this year in the first week of March I saw a mating pair and their egg sacs. In the puddles around the streams I saw these tadpoles in thousands and am not exaggerating!!! No one knows about how many of these thousands of tadpoles would reach adulthood to survive snowfall and then reproduce again...
1. Adult Toads:

Mating is the first activity after winter sleep In the month of April 2019 when I saw the tadpole I got to know from the experts that they were tadpoles of Himalayan Toad and fortunately I got the opportunity to visit the same place in the month of March 2020 (first week) where I saw this beautiful pair in its mating position and already laying-off eggs in tube-like structure (I will make another post showing that structure). What I was wondering then was this species is another wonder as melting of snow and ice was a very recent phenomenon on this study site and they immediately after coming out of their hibernation start mating as soon as possible so that there can be new generations doing the same next year and year next to that. It would be so interesting if I could document their winter sleep.<br /> <br /> Image of their eggs in tubes : https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94116/egg_sac_of_endemic_himalayan_toad.html<br /> <br /> Tadpoles : https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94286/ready_for_metamorphosis.html Duttaphrynus,Duttaphrynus himalayanus,Frogs of India,Geotagged,Himalayan,Himalayan toad,Incredible India,IncredibleIndia,India,Indian Frogs,Nikon,Nikon D5600,Tamron,Tamron AF 70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD MACRO 1:2,Toad,Winter

2. Egg sac:
egg sac of endemic Himalayan Toad As I said in my Himalayan Toad species intro post, that I will be posting egg and then tadpole image, here am adding egg stage today. So I made a collage showing freshly laid eggs in tubes on a bed of algae and besides that image there is an another image showing older tube carrying eggs. As it gets old the transparency of the tube is affected by many environmental factors and in a way such covering in dust and turbidity provides them safety against the predators is what I assumed as the eggs are less visible in this form. Also yes, one last comment on it is these tubes were not very small to ignore and longest I saw was almost 2 meters long!!! So this was from my visit in the month of March 2020 (first week to be very specific)<br /> Image of adult mating : https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94026/mating_is_the_first_activity_after_winter_sleep.html<br /> Tadpoles: https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94286/ready_for_metamorphosis.html Abhijeet Jagtap,Abhijeet Ramesh Jagtap,AmphibiansOfIndia,Chamba,Duttaphrynus himalayanus,Geotagged,Himachal Pradesh,HimachalPradesh,Himalayan,Himalayan toad,Incredible India,IncredibleIndia,India,IndianAmphibians,Toad,abhitap,abhitap1991

    comments (2)

  1. View Christine Young's profile
    Christine Young
    Lion
    View Lion class
    It is so awesome how you've documented the eggs, tadpoles, and adults of this species! I love it. I went out to a pond this morning and saw hundreds of tadpoles...It's so cute how they come to the surface for gulps of air. Posted 5 years ago
    1. View abhitap's profile
      abhitap
      Lion
      View Lion class
      Yes, they are amazing and its fun observing them :-) Posted 5 years ago

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The Himalayan toad

The Himalayan toad is a species of toad that is widely distributed throughout the Himalayan mountains. The Yunnanese populations are sometimes considered a separate species, ''Duttaphrynus cyphosus''.

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Similar species: Frogs
Species identified by abhitap
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By abhitap

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Uploaded May 16, 2020. Captured Apr 25, 2019 13:05 in Unnamed Road, Sai Kothi, Himachal Pradesh 176316, India.
country flag of India Explore India 5,169 1,362 0
  • NIKON D5600
  • f/10.0
  • 1/200s
  • ISO250
  • 300mm

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